THE  USURPATIONS  OF  SLAVERY. 


SPEECH 


OF 

WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD, 

IN  THE 

SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

ON  THE 

BILL  TO  PROTECT  OFFICERS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


FEBRUARY  23,  1855. 


Mr.  President  : 

The  scene  before  me,  and  all  its  circumstances 
and  incidents,  admonish  me  that  the  time  has 
come  when  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  is 
about  to  grant  another  of  those  concessions, 
which  have  become  habitual  here,  to  the  power 
of  Slavery  in  this  Republic.  For  the  second  time, 
in  a  period  of  nearly  three  months,  the  brilliant 
chandelier  above  our  heads  is  lighted  up ;  the 
passages  and  galleries  are  densely  crowded ;  all 
the  customary  forms  of  legislation  are  laid  aside. 
The  multifarious  subjects,  which  have  their  rise 
in  all  parts  of  this  extended  country,  are  sudden¬ 
ly  forgotten,  in  a  concentration  of  feeling  upon  a 
single  question  of  intense  interest.  The  day  is 
spent  without  adjournment.  Senators,  foregoing 
their  natural  relaxation  and  refreshment,  remain 
in  their  seats  until  midnight  approaches.  Ex¬ 
citement  breaks  out  in  every  part  of  the  Chamber. 
Criminations  and  recriminations,  and  denuncia¬ 
tions  of  Senators  individually,  and  of  Senators  by 
classes,  equally  of  those  who  have  participated 
in  the  debate,  and  of  those  who  have  remained 
silent,  grate  harshly  upon  the  ear.  Such  as  these 
were  the  incidents  that  heralded  the  passage  of 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  of  1850.  Such  as  these 
attended  the  abrogation  of  the  Missiouri  Com¬ 
promise  in  1854.  I  know  full  well  that  the  fall 
of  Constitutional  Liberty  is  as  certain  to  follow 
these  incidents  occurring  now,  as  it  followed  the 
like  incidents  on  the  sad  occasions  to  which  I 
have  referred.  And,  for  aught  I  know,  the  teem¬ 
ing  gun,  which  proclaimed  those  former  triumphs 
of  Slavery,  is  already  planted  again  under  the 
eaves  of  the  Capitol,  to  celebrate  another  victory. 
My  course,  on  this  occasion,  has  been  the  same 
as  on  all  former  occasions  of  a  like  character.  I 
have  forborne  from  engaging  in  the  debate,  until 
near  the  end  of  the  controversy,  that  the  country 
may  know  who  it  is,  and  who  it  is  not,  that  dis¬ 
turbs  the  public  harmony,  and  breaks  the  public 
peace,  by  the  agitation  of  Slavery  in  these  Halls  ; 
and  I  shall  speak  now,  less  in  the  form  of  an  ar¬ 


gument  against  the  bill  before  us,  than  of  a  pro¬ 
test,  upon  which  I  shall  take  my  stand,  to  abide 
the  ultimate  judgment  which  shall  be  rendered 
by  the  American  People. 

For  myself,  there  is  a  painful  association  con¬ 
nected  with  the  rise  of  this  debate.  I  arose  in 
my  place  at  eleven  o’clock  this  morning,  simul¬ 
taneously  with  the  honorable  Senator  from  Con¬ 
necticut,  [Mr.  Toucey,]  and  each  of  us  demanded 
an  audience,  which  was  assigned  by  the  Chair  to 
him.  He  announced  this  bill,  which,  however 
obscure  in  its  language,  was,  as  we  all  instantly 
knew,  designed  for  the  protection  of  officers  of 
the  United  States,  who  are  engaged  in  executing 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  On  the  other  side,  I 
held  in  my  hand  a  proposition,  to  be  submitted 
to  the  Senate,  for  the  erection  of  a  bronze  monu¬ 
ment,  fifty  feet  high,  in  the  city  of  Washing¬ 
ton,  which  should  illustrate  the  life  and  the 
death  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  and  commemorate 
the  immortal  names  of  the  Signers  of  the  Decla¬ 
ration  of  American  Independence.  It  was  a  new 
acknowledgment  which  I  was  about  to  ask  from 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States  to  the  great  fact 
on  which  the  liberties  of  this  country  and  all  its 
Constitutions  rest — that  all  men  are  created 
equal.  Sir,  the  success  which  the  honorable 
Senator  from  Connecticut  [Mr.  Toucey]  obtained 
over  me,  when  the  floor  was  assigned  to  him, 
was  ominous.  The  Senate  of  the  United  States 
will  erect  no  monument  to  the  memory  of  Jef¬ 
ferson,  who  declared,  that,  in  the  unequal  contest 
between  Slavery  and  Freedom,  the  Almighty  had 
no  attribute  which  could  take  part  with  the  op¬ 
pressor.  But  the  Senate  will,  on  the  other  hand, 
promptly  comply  with  the  demand  to  raise  an¬ 
other  bulwark  around  the  institution  of  Slavery. 

Mr.  President,  as  there  is  nothing  new  in  the 
circumstances  of  this  transaction,  so  it  has  hap¬ 
pened  now,  as  on  all  similar  occasions  hereto¬ 
fore,  that  everything  foreign  from  the  question  at 
issue  has  been  brought  into  the  debate.  The  in¬ 
troduction  of  these  foreign  matters  has,  as  here- 


9, 


tofore,  been  attended  with  a  profusion  of  re¬ 
proaches  and  calumnies  and  epithets,  as  inappo¬ 
site  to  the  occasion  as  they  are  inconsistent  with 
the  decorum  and  dignity  of  an  august  Legisla¬ 
ture.  Those  of  us  upon  whom  such  denuncia¬ 
tions,  calumnies,  and  epithets,  have  been  show¬ 
ered,  have  endured  them  long,  and  I  think  no 
one  will  deny  that  we  have  endured  them  pa¬ 
tiently.  To  such  Senators  as  have  given  utter¬ 
ance  to  their  opinions  in  that  form  of  argument, 
I  make,  for  myself,  only  this  reply — that  that 
field  of  debate  is  relinquished  exclusively  to 
themselves.  Now,  as  on  similar  occasions  here¬ 
tofore,  the  relations  of  political  parties,  and  their 
respective  merits  and  demerits,  have  entered 
largely  into  the  discussion.  Sir,  I  shall  forbear 
from  entering  into  that  part  of  the  debate,  for  the 
reason  that  I  am  addressing,  not  politicians,  but 
statesmen.  So  far  as  the  jnstice  or  expediency 
of  the  measure  under  consideration  is  concerned, 
it  can  make  no  difference  whether  those  who  ad¬ 
vocate  it  or  those  who  oppose  it  are  Whigs  of  are 
Democrats,  or  belong  to  that  new  class  of  men 
who  are  popularly  called  Know  Nothings.  Argu¬ 
ments  based  on  such  grounds  may  have  their 
weight  somewhere  else — outside  of  this  Cham¬ 
ber — or  possibly  up  there — [pointing  to  the  gal¬ 
leries] — but  certainly  not  down  here.  Inquisition 
has  been  made  concerning  the  circumstances  and 
influences  which  attended  the  recent  elections  of 
members  not  only  of  this  House,  but  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  for  the  purpose,  as  it  seems, 
of  awakening  prejudices  against  those  who  op¬ 
pose  the  passage  of  this  bill.  I  give  notice  to 
honorable  Senators  who  have  adopted  this  line 
of  argument,  that  it  is  neither  required  by  the 
people  whom  I  represent  here,  nor  is  it  consistent 
with  their  dignity  and  honor,  that  I  should  assume 
to  interpret  the  motives  which  determined  their 
choice  of  legislators.  The  results  are  before  the 
world.  They  explain  themselves.  Equally  de¬ 
rogatory  from  my  duty,  and  disrespectful  to  the 
statesmen  around  me,  and  to  the  States  which 
they  represent,  would  it  be,  were  I  to  inquire  into 
the  manner  or  circumstances  of  the  elections 
made  by  those  States.  I  recognise  every  Senator 
here  as  the  exponent  of  the  opinions  and  princi¬ 
ples  of  the  State  from  which  he  comes.  And  I 
hear  no  voice  from  any  State  but  that  to  which 
its  representatives  give  utterance.  Nevertheless, 
Mr.  President,  I  shall  not  shrink  from  such  an 
exposition  of  my  own  opinions  and  sentiments  on 
collateral  issues,  as  shall  tend  to  disembarrass  a 
good  cause,  by  relieving  it  from  unjust  prejudices, 
directed  against  myself  as  its  advocate. 

First,  in  regard  to  what  is  called  the  Nebraska 
Question.  I  freely  confess,  that  I  regard  the  ab¬ 
rogation  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  by  the  Ne¬ 
braska  bill  of  the  last  session  as  an  unjust,  un¬ 
necessary,  dangerous,  and  revolutionary  act.  I 
voted  against  it  as  such.  Let  that  vote  stand 
against  me,  in  the  minds  and  in  the  hearts,  if  it 
must  be  so,  of  those  Senators  who  regard  it  as  a 
cause  for  reproach.  Certainly,  this  is  not  the 
time  to  justify  that  vote.  A  time  to  do  so  was, 
when  the  vote  was  given,  and  its  vindication  was 
then  duly  made.  There  is  probably  another 
time  coming  for  the  renewal  of  that  vindication — 


a  time  in  the  near  future,  when  the  question  of  a 
restoration  of  Freedom  throughout  thfe  Territories 
of  the  United  States  will  arise  in  the  Senate. 
Then,  if  God  shall  bless  me  with  continued  life 
and  health  and  strength,  I  hope  again  to  do  my 
duty.  To  that  future  time  I  adjourn  the  argu¬ 
ment  on  the  bill  for  the  abrogation  of  the  Mis- 
souri  Compromise. 

There  is  more  of  propriety  in  the  discussions  of 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  which  have  been  re¬ 
opened  during  this  debate.  I  have  no  need,  how¬ 
ever,  to  speak  on  that  subject.  I  have  fully  de¬ 
bated  it  heretofore,  on  more  occasions  than  one, 
in  this  place.  Every  word  of  what  I  then  said, 
is  recorded  in  the  legislative  history  of  the  United 
States.  There  is  not  a  thought  that  I  would  wish 
to  add  ;  there  is  not  a  word  that  I  am  willing  to 
take  away.  Time  is  full  surely  and  quite  rapidly 
enough  resolving  the  question  whether  those 
were  right  who  pronounced  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law  a  just,  and  necessary,  and  constitutional 
act,  full  of  healing  to  a  wounded  country,  or 
whether  the  humble  individual  who  now  stands 
before  you  was  right  when  he  admonished  you 
that  that  law  was  unnecessary,  unwise,  inhuman, 
and  derogatory  from  the  Constitution,  and  that 
it  would  never  be  executed  without  new  and 
continued  usurpations.  The  transaction  of  this 
night  takes  place,  in  order  that  the  words  of  that 
prophecy  may  be  fulfilled. 

I  am  not  allowed,  sir,  to  reach  the  merits  of 
this  question,  without  alluding  to  a  body  of  men 
who  sport  in  the  public  gaze  under  a  name  which 
I  hardly  know  how  to  repeat  in  the  presence  of 
so  grave  and  reverend  an  assemblage  as  this — the 
Know  Nothings.  They  are  said  to  have  contrived 
their  disguise  with  so  much  ingenuity,  that  one 
;  who  is  not  a  novitiate  cannot  deny  a  knowledge 
j  of  their  ceremonies  and  principles,  without  im¬ 
plying  his  communion  and  membership  with 
them.  Nevertheless,  I  must  reply  to  the  Senator 
from  Illinois,  [Mr.  Douglas,]  who  charges  me, 
among  others,  with  suen  an  affiliation,  that  I 
have  no  knowledge  of  that  body  of  men,  other 
than  what  is  afforded  me  by  the  publications  of 
the  day.  Thus  informed,  I  understand  the  Know 
Nothings  to  be  a  secret  society  or  order,  consist¬ 
ing  of  two  or  three  grades,  colleagued  and  mutu¬ 
ally  sworn  to  elect  individuals  of  their  own  Order, 
or  at  least  persons  maintaining  the  principles 
which  that  Order  entertains,  to  all  offices  of  trust 
and  profit  in  the  United  States.  Those  principles 
I  understand  to  be,  in  general,  the  same  which, 
before  the  organization  of  the  Know  Nothings, 
passed  under  the  name  of  Native  Americanism. 
I,  sir,  have  no  connection  with  that  Order.  I  am 
under  no  responsibility  for  it's  doings,  and  I  have 
not  the  least  sympathy  with  its  principles  or  sen¬ 
timents.  I  belong  to  one  voluntary  Association 
of  men,  which  has  to  do  with  spiritual  affairs.  It 
is  the  Christian  Church — that  branch  of  it,  all 
imperfect  though  I  think  it  is,  which,  according 
to  my  notions,  most  nearly  retains,  in  their  puri¬ 
ty,  the  instructions  of  the  Gospel.  That  Associa¬ 
tion  is  an  open  one,  which  performs  all  its  rites 
and  gives  all  its  instructions  with  publicity,  and 
invites  every  man,  in  the  language  of  its  Divine 
Founder,  to  come  in  and  partake  of  the  privileges 


3 


with  which  He  invested  it,  and  of  the  blessings 
which  He  promises.  I  belong  to  one  temporal 
society  of  men,  and  that  is  the  political  party 
which,  according  to  my  notions,  embodies  most 
fully  and  most  truly,  although,  I  confess,  as  in 
the  other  case,  very  inadequately,  the  principles 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.  This  Associa¬ 
tion  also,  of  which  I  have  last  spoken,  is  an  open 
one.  All  its  transactions  are  conducted  in  the 
broad  daylight,  and  it  invites  all  citizens,  and  all 
men  who  become  subjects  of  the  power  of  this 
Government,  of  whatever  clime  or  race  or  color 
they  may  be,  to  enter  into  its  ranks,  to  participate 
in  its  labors,  and  to  co-operate  in  maintaining 
good  Government  and  in  advancing  the  cause  of 
Human  Nature.  These  two  Associations,  the  one 
spiritual  and  the  other  temporal,  are  the  only 
voluntary  Associations  to  which  I  now  belong,  or 
ever  have  belonged  since  I  became  a  man  ;  and, 
unless  I  am  bereft  of  reason,  they  are  the  only 
Associations  of  men  to  which  I  shall  ever  suffer 
myself  to  belong.  Secret  societies,  sir!  Before 
I  would  place  my  right  hand  between  the  hands 
of  other  men,  in  a  secret  Lodge,  Order,  Class,  or 
Council,  and,  bending  my  knee  before  them,  enter 
into  combination  with  them  for  any  object,  per¬ 
sonal  or  political,  good  or  bad,  I  would  pray  to 
God,  that  that  hand  and  that  knee  might  be  par¬ 
alyzed,  and  that  I  might  become  an  object  of  the 
pity  and  even  of  the  mockery  of  my  fellow  men. 
Swear,  sir !  I,  a  man,  an  American  citizen,  a 
Christian,  swear  to  submit  myself  to  the  guidance 
and  direction  of  other  men,  surrendering  my  own 
judgment  to  their  judgments,  and  my  own  con¬ 
science  to  their  keeping!  No,  no,  sir.  I  know 
quite  well  the  fallibility  of  my  own  judgment,  and 
my  liability  to  fall  into  error  and  temptation.  But 
my  life  has  been  spent  in  breaking  the  bonds  of 
the  slavery  of  other  men.  I  thereiore  know  too 
■well  the  danger  of  confiding  power  to  irresponsi¬ 
ble  hands,  to  make  myself  a  willing  slave.  Pro¬ 
scribe  a  man,  sir,  because  he  was  not  born  in  the 
same  town,  or  county,  or  State,  or  country,  in 
which  I  was  born  !  Why,  sir,  I  do  most  earnestly 
and  most  affectionately  advise  all  persons  here¬ 
after  to  be  born,  that  they  be  born  in  the  United 
States,  and,  if  they  can  without  inconvenience,  to 
be  born  in  the  State  of  New  York,  and  thus  avoid  a 
great  deal  of  trouble  for  themselves  and  for  others. 
[Laughter.]  Moreover,  I  do  most  affectionately 
•enjoin  upon  all  such  persons  as  are  hereafter  to 
be  born,  that  they  be  born  of  fathers  and  of  moth¬ 
ers,  of  grandfathers  and  of  grandmothers,  of  pure 
American  blood.  Still  more,  sir,  I  do  affection¬ 
ately  enjoin  upon  all  who  shall  thus  have  the 
wisdom  to  come  into  existence  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic,  and  of  such  pure  and  untainted  ances¬ 
try,  to  be  either  born  in  the  Protestant  faith,  or 
to  be  converted  as  speedily  as  possible  to  that 
good  and  true  Protestant  Church,  within  whose 
pale  I  myself  am  accustomed  to  worship. 

More  than  that,  sir.  Speaking  from  a  full 
knowledge  and  conviction  of  the  serious  incon¬ 
veniences  which  absolute  and  eternal  Slavery 
entails  upon  Man  and  upon  races  of  men,  I  do 
earnestly,  strenuously,  and  affectionately  conjure 
all  people  everywhere,  who  are  hereafter  to  be 


born,  to  be  born  white.  [Laughter.]  Thus,  be¬ 
ing  born  in  this  free  and  happy  country,  and  be¬ 
ing  born  white,  they  will  be  born  free.  But, 
Mr.  President,  this  is  the  length,  and  this  is  the 
breadth  of  my  connection  with  the  new  and  mys¬ 
terious  Order  of  Patriots.  And,  if  there  shall 
hereafter  come  among  us  persons  who,  because 
from  ignorance  they  may  not  be  able  to  profit 
by  my  advice  and  counsel,  shall  be  born  in  for¬ 
eign  lands ;  or,  even  if  there  shall  be  any  who, 
in  despite  of  my  counsel,  shall  persist  in  being 
Roman  Catholics,  or  Jews,  or  Turks,  or  Chinese; 
or  if  there  shall  be  others,  who,  disregarding  my 
persuasion,  shall  insist  upon  coming  into  the 
world  with  blackened  faces  and  twisted  hair,  all 
I  can  say,  in  regard  to  them,  is,  that  I  have  done 
my  duty,  and  I  shall  not  add  a  feather’s  weight 
to  the  disabilities  which  they  will  incur  by  their 
presumption  and  perverseness.  [Laughter.] 

Sir,  my  honorable  friend  from  Connecticut 
[Mr.  Gillette]  has  thought  this  was  a  good 
occasion  to  invite  us  to  consider  the  question  of 
abolishing  Slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
and  has  thereby  incurred  some  censure.  He  cer¬ 
tainly  had  a  warrant  in  the  latitude  which  the 
debate  had  already  assumed,  although  the  sub¬ 
ject  was  not  very  germane  to  the  question  be¬ 
fore  us.  I  have  no  hesitation  to  disclose  my 
fanaticism  in  that  direction.  Five  years  ago,  I 
proposed,  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
the  emancipation  of  all  the  slaves  in  the  District 
of  Columbia,  with  the  consent  of  its  citizens,  to 
be  expressed  through  the  customary  forms  of  a 
popular  election,  and  with  full  compensation,  to 
be  paid  out  of  the  public  Treasury,  to  the  indi¬ 
viduals  w'ho  should  suffer  damage  in  their  for¬ 
tunes  by  so  great  an  act  of  National  humanity 
and  justice.  I  am  ready  to  go  with  my  honora¬ 
ble  friend  that  length  now.  I  shall  be  ready  to 
go  the  same  length  to-morrow — next  year — al¬ 
ways.  This  is  enough,  I  trust,  on  that  subject. 

I  and  others  here,  sir,  are  denounced  as  Abo¬ 
litionists,  in  a  broader  sense,  and  therefore  as 
traitors.  I  have  no  hesitation  in  confessing  the 
whole  truth  on  that  point.  I  believe  that  I  do 
not  know  a  human  being  who  maintains  or  sup¬ 
poses  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
has  lawful  authority  or  right  to  abolish  Slavery 
in  the  States  of  this  Union.  Certainly,  in  my 
own  opinion,  that  Government  has  no  such  pow¬ 
er  or  right.  But,  sir,  I  am  a  man,  none  the  less 
because  I  am  a  citizen  and  a  Senator  of  the 
United  States.  And,  although  I  have  no  power 
to  exercise  in  a  slaveholding  State,  I  very  freely 
say,  that  if  I  were  a  member  of  such  a  communi¬ 
ty,  I  should  recommend  to  and  urge  upon  my 
fellow-citizens  there,  with  patience  which  could 
endure  until  the  necessary  reform  could  safely 
be  obtained,  some  measure  of  Emancipation,  im¬ 
mediate  or  prospective,  with  compensation  for 
damages,  through  the  action  of  the  State  Legis¬ 
lature,  upon  the  ascertained  consent  of  the  Peo¬ 
ple.  I  add,  further,  to  meet  the  requirements  of 
those  who  suppose  that  a  proposition  of  gradual 
Emancipation  to  the  slaveholding  States  is  either 
timely  now,  or  soon  will  be  so,  that  while  I  re¬ 
tain  a  place  in  the  National  Councils,  any  slave¬ 
holding  State  willing  to  adopt  the  humane  policy 


4 


which  has  been  already  adopted  by  my  own  State 
and  by  other  States,  shall  have  my  vote  for  any 
aid,  either  in  lands  or  money,  from  the  Federal 
Government,  which  the  condition  of  the  public 
Treasury  and  of  the  National  domain  will  allow, 
in  furtherance  of  an  object  in  which  not  only  the 
slaveholding  States  are  interested,  but  which 
concerns  the  whole  Union,  and  even  Human  Na¬ 
ture  itself. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  made  my  way  at  last, 
through  the  intricate  mazes  of  this  discussion,  to 
the  actual  question  before  the  Senate.  The  bill 
before  us  is  in  these  words : 

“If  a  suit  be  commenced  or  pending  in  any 
£  State  court,  against  any  officer  of  the  United 
‘  States  or  other  person,  for  or  on  account  of  any 
4  act  done  under  any  law  of  the  United  States,  or 
4  under  color  thereof,  or  for  or  on  account  of  any 
4  right,  authority,  claim,  or  title,  set  up  by  such 
4  officer  or  other  person,  under  any  law  of  the 
4  United  States,  and  the  defendant  shall,  at  the 
4  first  term  of  such  State  court  after  the  passage 
‘  of  this  act,  or  at  the  first  term  of  such  State 
4  court  after  such  suit  shall  be  commenced,  file  a 
‘  petition  for  the  removal  of  the  cause  for  trial 
4  into  the  next  circuit  court  to  be  held  in  the  dis- 
4  trict  where  the  suit  is  pending,  or,  if  there  be  no 
4  circuit  court  in  such  district,  then  to  the  district 
4  court  invested  with  the  powers  of  a  circuit  court 
4  next  to  be  held  in  said  district,  and  offer  good 
4  and  sufficient  surety  for  his  entering  in  such 
4  court,  on  the  first  day  of  its  session,  copies  of 
4  said  process  against  him,  and  also  for  his  there 
4  appearing  and  entering  special  bail  in  the  cause, 
4  if  special  bail  was  originally  requisite  therein,  it 
4  shall  then  be  the  duty  of  the  State  court  to 
4  accept  the  surety,  and  proceed  no  further  in  the 
4  cause;  and  any  bail  that  may  have  been  taken 
4  shall  be  discharged,  and  the  said  copies  being 
4  entered  as  aforesaid  in  such  court  of  the  United 
4  States,  the  cause  shall  there  proceed  in  the  same 
4  manner  as  if  it  had  been  brought  there  by  orig- 
4  inal  process ;  and  any  attachment  of  the  goods 
4  or  estate  of  the  defendant  by  the  original  pro- 
4  cess  shall  hold  the  goods  or  estate  so  attached 
4  to  answer  the  final  judgment,  in  the  same  man- 
4  ner  as  by  the  laws  of  such  State  they  would 
4  have  been  holden  to  answer  such  final  judgment, 

4  had  it  been  rendered  by  the  court  in  which  the 
4  suit  commenced;  and  the  party  removing  the 
4  cause  shall  not  be  allowed  to  plead  or  give  evi- 
4  dence  of  any  other  defence  than  that  arising 
4  under  a  law  of  the  United  States,  as  aforesaid.” 

What  is  proposed  here  is  an  innovation — a 
new  thing — a  thing  unknown  in  the  laws  of  the 
country,  since  the  States  came  into  a  Federal 
Union.  That  new  thing  is,  that  a  person,  civilly 
prosecuted  in  a  State  Court,  and  justifying  under 
authority  or  color  of  a  law  of  the  United  States, 
may  oust  the  State  of  its  jurisdiction,  and  remove 
the  cause  into  a  Court  of  the  United  States.  The 
first  question  which  arises  is,  How  does  the  thing 
stand  now?  How  has  it  hitherto  stood?  What 
are  the  powers  of  the  State  Courts,  and  what  are 
their  duties  ?  What  are  the  rights  of  parties 
in  the  State  Courts  ?  The  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  binds  together  iu  Federal  Union 
thirty-one  States,  which,  while  they  remain  equal 


and  qualified  sovereignties,  at  the  same  time  con¬ 
stitute,  in  the  aggregate,  another  qualified  sove¬ 
reignty.  In  so  much  as  the  chief  business  of  gov¬ 
ernment  is  to  protect  the  rights  of  its  citizens  or 
subjects,  and  as  the  performance  of  that  duty  is, 
under  free  Governments,  assigned  to  Courts  of 
Justice,  and  in  so  much  as  the  citizen  is  simul¬ 
taneously  the  subject  of  a  State  Government  and 
of  the  Federal  Government,  the  State  Courts  and 
the  United  States  Courts  exercise  concurrently 
or  co-ordinately  the  power  of  trying  civil  actions 
which  are  brought  against  persons  acting  as  of¬ 
ficers  of  the  Federal  Government.  The  public 
officers  of  the  United  States  are,  as  we  all  know, 
numerous,  and  of  many  classes — civil,  military, 
and  naval.  They  are  engaged  in  executing  laws 
relating  to  the  army,  the  navy,  the  customs,  the 
public  lands,  the  post  office,  the  judiciary,  and 
foreign  relations.  These  agents  may  be  called 
upon  to  answer  by  any  person  who  is  aggrieved, 
either  in  the  proper  Federal  Court  or  in  a  Court 
of  the  State  where  the  grievance  happened.  A 
case  which  will  illustrate  the  subject  now  occurs 
.  to  me.  Two  or  three  years  ago,  I  successfully 
maintained  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  an  action  on  the  case,  which  had  been 
brought  in  a  Justice’s  Court  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  by  a  woman,  against  a  postmaster,  who 
had  refused  to  deliver  to  her  a  newspaper,  on 
which  the  postage  which  could  be  rightfully  de¬ 
manded  was  one  cent.  The  Postmaster  pleaded 
before  the  Justice,  and  before  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  State,  and  before  the  Court  of  Appeals  of 
the  State,  that  none  but  a  Federal  Court  could 
assume  jurisdiction  in  the  case.  When  his  plea 
was  finally  overruled  in  the  Court  of  last  resort 
in  the  State,  he  appealed  from  that  decision  to 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  That 
Court  affirmed  the  decision  of  the  State  Court, 
and  thus  defined  the  law  to  be,  that  United  States 
officers  are  amenable  to  civil  actions  in  the  State 
tribunals.  The  law  now  remains  as  it  was  then 
expounded,  and  so  it  has  always  stood  since  the 
establishment  of  the  Constitution  itself.  It  is 
wise  and  beneficent,  because  it  surrounds  the 
citizen  with  a  double  safeguard  against  extortion, 
oppression,  and  every  form  of  injustice  committed 
by  the  authority  or  in  the  name  of  the  great  cen¬ 
tral  Executive  Power. 

The  second  question  is,  What  is  the  nature 
and  extent  of  the  change  which  you  propose  to 
make  by  the  bill  which  is  under  consideration  ? 
That  question  is  answered  in  a  word.  Whenever 
the  rights  of  a  citizen  are  invaded  in  any  State 
within  the  Union,  by  a  person  holding  a  com¬ 
mission,  whether  civil  or  military,  from  the  Pres¬ 
ident  of  the  United  States,  he  shall  henceforth 
have  only  a  single  safeguard,  instead  of  that 
double  panoply  which  has  hitherto  shielded  him, 
and  he  must  either  forego  redress,  or  seek  it  in  a 
tribunal  of  the  United  States,  in  which  justice  is 
administered  by  Judges  appointed  by  the  Presi¬ 
dent  and  the  Senate,  and  irremovable,  except  on 
impeachment  by  the  House  of  Representatives, 
and,  therefore,  responsible  in  the  least  possible 
degree  to  that  wholesome  Public  Opinion  which 
is  the  guardian  of  public  liberty.  Every  post¬ 
master  and  his  deputy,  every  marshal  and  his 


5 


deputy,  every  mail-contractor,  every  stage-driver, 
every  tide-waiter,  every  lieutenant,  every  ensign, 
and  even  every  midshipman,  will  be  independent 
of  State  authority,  and,  when  prosecuted  before  a 
Magistrate  or  Court,  in  the  immediate  vicinage 
where  his  offence  is  committed,  will  defy  the 
party  aggrieved,  and  remove  the  action  com¬ 
menced  against  him  into  a  Federal  tribunal, 
whose  terms  are  rarely  held,  and  then  in  remote 
and  practically  inaccessible  places.  One-half  of 
the  power  residing  in  the  States  is  thus  to  be 
wrested  from  them  at  a  single  blow,  and  they 
will  henceforth  stand  shattered  monuments  of 
earlier  greatness. 

No  such  change  as  this  was  anticipated  by  the 
framers  of  our  Federal  and  State  Constitutions. 
They  established  the  Federal  Constitution  chiefly 
for  the  protection  of  the  whole  country  agaiust 
foreign  dangers.  They  gave  to  it  a  stronger  Ex¬ 
ecutive  than  they  gave  to  the  States,  respectively. 
They  established  the  State  Constitutions  chiefly 
for  the  protection  and  defence  of  personal  rights. 
They  knew  that  this  Central  Government  would 
grow  stronger  and  stronger,  and  would  ultimately 
become  an  imperial  power.  It  has  realized  that 
expectation,  and  has  become  even  a  Continental 
Power.  Hitherto,  the  citizen  has  enjoyed  his 
double  safeguard.  Why  shall  one-half  of  his 
panoply  be  now  torn  aAvay  from  him  ?  What 
lawful  and  proper  object  of  the  Federal  Govern¬ 
ment  has  failed  to  be  obtained  by  reason  of  the 
exercise  of  jurisdiction  by  State  authorities  over 
officers  of  the  United  States  ?  None.  Why,  then, 
shall  the  ancient  law  and  custom  be  changed  ? 
Is  there  danger  that  the  citizen  will  be  too  se¬ 
cure  under  the  double  protection  of  the  State 
Courts  and  of  the  Federal  Courts  ?  That  was 
not  the  doctrine  of  the  earlier  days,  and  that  is 
not  sound  doctrine  now. 

I  demand,  in  the  third  place,  a  reason  for  this 
innovation.  In  reply,  you  urge,  first,  a  prece¬ 
dent.  Precedents,  in  every  country,  are  the  stair¬ 
way  of  tyrants.  What  is  this  precedent?  It  is  a 
law  which  protects  the  public  Treasury,  by  with¬ 
drawing  from  the  State  Courts  certain  actions 
against  collectors  of  the  revenue.  Who  knows  now, 
without  more  examination  than  you  allow  time 
for  us  to  make,  on  what  ground,  or  under  what 
circumstances,  or  upon  what  exigency,  that  sin¬ 
gle  departure  from  the  ancient  system  was  made? 
I  do  not  know  that  I  should  have  been  in  favor 
of  that  departure.  Nor  can  you  show  that  the 
innovation  thus  made,  and  which  you  now  plead 
as  a  precedent,  was  necessary.  We  are  always 
wiser  in  our  judgments  in  retrospect  than  in  an¬ 
ticipation.  I  can  now  see,  when  the  precedent 
is  pleaded  to  justify  a  further  departure  from  the 
ancient  system,  abundant  reasons  to  regret  that 
the  precedent  was  ever  established. 

You  tell  me,  in  the  next  place,  that  there  is 
danger  of  insubordination — danger  that  the  State 
Governments  will  nullify  the  laws  of  the  Federal 
Government.  This  is  always  the  ready  plea  for 
Federal  usurpations.  It  is  the  same  ground 
which  the  British  Government  assumed  towards 
British  subjects  in  the  American  Colonies,  when 
it  transported  them  beyond  seas,  to  be  tried  for 
pretended  offences.  I  proclaim  in  your  ears 


here,jjand  I  proclaim  before  my  countrymen,  that 
there  is  no  necessity  and  no  shadow  of  necessity 
for  this  great  and  fearful  change.  From  every 
tribunal  in  any  State  of  this  Union  which  ren¬ 
ders  a  final  judgment  that  can  affect  the  rights 
of  any  public  officer  of  the  United  States,  there 
is  an  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  reserved  to  him  by  the  Constitution  and 
laws  of  the  United  States;  and  that  high  tribunal 
can,  merely  by  its  mandate,  annul  that  judgment, 
and  discharge  the  party  from  all  its  consequen¬ 
ces.  This,  and  this  alone,  was  the  security  which 
your  forefathers  established  to  prevent  the  evils 
and  dangers  of  insubordination  by  the  State  au¬ 
thorities.  I  proclaim,  further,  that  when  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  submitted 
to  the  People  in  the  several  States,  to  be  adopted 
by  them,  the  chief  objection  which  was  urged 
against  it,  the  objection  which  was  urged  with 
the  most  zeal,  the  most  energy,  and  the  most 
effect,  was,  that  the  liberties  of  the  citizen  would 
be  brought  into  jeopardy  by  the  extended  power 
of  the  Federal  Judiciary.  So  strenuously  was 
this  objection  urged,  that  the  Constitution  was 
not  adopted  until  it  was  demonstrated,  by  Hamil¬ 
ton,  Jay,  and  Madison,  in  the  Federalist,  that  the 
State  jurisdiction,  which  you  are  now  about  to 
strike  down,  was  left  to  the  States,  and  could 
never  be  wrested  from  them  without  an  act  of 
Congress,  which  there  was  no  reason  to  presume 
would  ever  be  passed. 

Sir,  this  is  an  important  transaction.  I  warn 
you  that  it  is  a  transaction  too  important  to  be 
suddenly  projected,  and  carried  out  with  unusual 
and  unseemly  rapidity.  It  is  a  transaction  that 
will  be  reviewed  freely,  boldly,  and  through  long 
years  to  come.  You  would  have  done  well  to 
have  given  us  a  week,  or  a  day,  or  at  least  one 
hour,  to  prepare  ourselves  with  arguments  to  dis¬ 
suade  you  from  your  purpose  and  to  stay  your 
hands.  Suffer  me  to  say,  with  all  deference,  that 
you  would  have  done  well  if  you  had  allowed 
yourselves  time  to  consider  more  deliberately  the 
necessity  for  a  measure  so  bold,  and  the  conse¬ 
quences  which  must  follow  it. 

I  repeat,  sir,  that  there  is  no  necessity  for  this 
act.  In  every  case  which  is  intended  to  be  reach¬ 
ed  by  it,  the  mandate  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  annuls  the  judgment  of  the 
State  Court  which  has  mistaken  its  own  powers, 
or  encroached  upon  the  Federal  authority;  and 
the  State  itself,  with  all  its  dignity  and  pride, 
falls  humbled  and  abased  at  the  foot  of  central 
and  imperial  power.  I  habitually  contemplate 
everything  connected  with  the  development  of 
the  resources  and  with  the  extension  and  ag¬ 
grandizement  and  glory  of  this  my  country,  with 
an  euthusiasm  which  I  am  sure  I  do  not  always 
find  burning  in  the  hearts  of  all  with  whom  it  is 
my  duty  to  act  in  her  Councils.  But,  sir,  I  shudder 
when  I  think  that  this  development,  this  exten¬ 
sion,  this  aggrandizement,  and  this  accumula¬ 
tion  of  glory,  are  going  on  firmly,  steadily,  and 
crushingly,  at  the  expense  of  these  noble,  inde¬ 
pendent  States  ;  that  the  majestic  dome,  while  it 
spreads  itself  more  widely  and  erects  itself  high¬ 
er  and  higher,  is  pressing  into  crumbling  frag- 


6 


merits  the  pillars  which  constitute  its  true  and 
just  support. 

Sir,  we  have  had,  on  this  occasion,  as  we  al¬ 
ways  have  on  painful  occasions  of  this  kind,  pa¬ 
thetic  allusions  to  the  safety  of  this  Federal 
Union.  And  these  allusions  have  been  address¬ 
ed  to  me,  although  I  have  hitherto  been  content 
to  be  a  silent  listener  to  this  debate.  What  do 
you  think  must  be  the  feelings  of  a  man,  himself 
a  Representative -of  three  millions,  one-eighth  of 
your  whole  people — a  Representative  of  one-sixth 
of  all  the  freemen  in  the  Republic — a  Represent¬ 
ative  of  even  a  larger  proportion  of  the  whole 
wealth  of  the  country — a  Representative  of  }rour 
whole  Concentrated  Commerce — when  he  finds 
himself  surrounded  by  men  who  think  that  a  i 
community  so  numerous  and  so  intelligent,  and 
enjoying  such  wealth  and  cherishing  such  inter¬ 
ests,  are  so  far  habitually  blinded  by  passion  as 
to  be  disloyal  to  the  Union  on  which  all  their  \ 
safety  depends  ?  Sir,  I  almost  forget  my  cus¬ 
tomary  toleration,  when  I  see  around  me  men 
who  know  how  the  interests  and  affections  of 
their  own  homes  cluster  and  entwine  themselves 
with  every  fibre  of  their  own  hearts,  and  who  yet 
seem  to  forget  that  those  interests  and  affections 
are  the  offspring  of  humanity  itself,  and  therefore 
common  to  all  men,  and  suppose  that  it  is  trea¬ 
son  against  the  country  to  protest  against  the 
oppression  of  any  one  of  its  many  and  various 
masses  and  races. 

I  warn  you,  Senators,  that  you  are  saving  this 
Union  at  a  fearful  cost.  This  is  a  Republican 
Government — the  first  and  only  one  that  has 
ever  been  widely  and  permanently  successful. 
Every  man  in  this  country,  every  man  in  Chris¬ 
tendom,  who  knows  anything  of  the  philosophy 
of  Government,  knows  that  this  Republic  has 
been  thus  successful,  only  by  reason  of  the  stabil¬ 
ity,  strength,  and  greatness,  of  the  individual 
States.  You  are  saving  the  Union  of  those  States, 
by  sapping  and  undermining  the  columns  on 
which  it  rests.  You  reply  to  all  this,  that  there 
is  a  newly  developed  necessity  for  this  act  of 
Federal  aggrandizement.  There  is  no  such  new 
necessity  whatever.  The  Courts  of  the  several 
States  have  exercised  their  concurrent  jurisdic¬ 
tion  over  officers  and  agents  of  the  United  States 
for  a  period  of  sixty  years,  in  cases  which  involv¬ 
ed  life,  liberty,  property,  commerce,  peace,  and 
war,  subject  to  supervision  by  the  supreme  tribu¬ 
nal  of  the  Union,  and  while  individual  rights 
have  been  maintained,  the  public  peace  has  been 
everywhere  preserved,  and  the  public  safety  has 
never  received  a  wound.  During  all  that  time, 
there  has  never  been  an  agent  or  apologist  of  the 
Federal  power,  so  apprehensive  for  the  public 
safety  as  to  propose  the  measure  which  is  now 
before  us.  There  has  never  been  a  time  when 
such  a  proposition  would  have  been  received  with 
favor.  There  have  indeed  been  discontents,  but 
they  have  been  local  and  transient.  Such  dis¬ 
contents  are  incident  to  free  society  everywhere, 
and  they  are  inevitable  here.  It  is  through  the 
working  of  such  discontents,  that  free  communi¬ 
ties,  acting  by  constitutional  restraints,  and  within 
constitutional  Courts,  work  out  the  reformation 
of  errors,  the  correction  of  abuses,  and  the  ■ 


advancement  of  society.  All  that  has  happened 
is  a  change  of  the  scene  of  these  discontents,  re¬ 
sulting  from  a  change  in  the  geographical  direc¬ 
tion  which  the  action  of  the  Federal  Government 
takes.  Heretofore,  the  murmurs  of  discontent 
came  from  the  South.  Now,  the  breeze  which 
bears  them  sets  in  from  the  North.  When  the 
■wind  blew  from  a  Southern  quarter,  the  rights  of 
the  citizen  were  not  safe  without  the  interposi¬ 
tion  of  the  State  tribunals.  Now,  when  it  comes 
from  an  opposite  point  of  the  compass,  a  Senator 
from  Connecticut  [Mr.  Toucey]  requires  Congress 
to  prohibit  that  interposition,  and  to  arm  the 
Federal  Government  with  new  and  portentous 
power. 

!  Mr.  President,  all  this  trouble  arises  out  of  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Law.  The  transaction  in  which 
we  are  engaged  is  by  no  means  the  first  act  of 
a  new  drama.  You  began  here,  in  1793,  to  ex- 

'  tend  into  the  free  States,  by  the  exercise  of  the 
Federal  power,  the  war  of  races — the  war  of  the 
master  against  the  slave.  The  Fugitive  Slave 
Law  wrhich  was  then  passed,  became  obsolete. 
Though  no  great  inconvenience  was  sustained, 
the  pride  of  the  slaveholding  power  was  wounded. 
In  1850,  you  paesed  a  new  Fugitive  Slave  Law, 
and  connected  it  with  measures  designed  to  ex¬ 
tend  the  Territorial  jurisdiction  of  the  United 
States  over  new  regions,  without  inhibiting  Sla¬ 
very.  You  were  told  at  that  time,  as  distinctly 
as  you  are  told  to-night,  that  your  new  law  could 
not  be  executed,  and  would  become  obsolete  for 
the  same  reasons  that  the  old  law  had  become 
obsolete ;  that  the  failure  of  the  old  law  had  re¬ 
sulted,  not  from  its  want  of  stringency,  but  from 
its  too  great  stringency.  You  were  told  then,  as 
distinctly  as  you  are  now  told,  that  your  new  law, 
with  all  its  terrors,  would  fail,  because,  like  the 
old  law,  and  more  than  the  old  law,  it  lacked  the 
elements  to  command  the  consent  and  approval 
of  the  consciences,  the  sympathies,  and  the  judg¬ 
ments,  of  a  Free  People. 

The  new  law,  however,  was  adopted,  in  defi¬ 
ance  of  our  protest  that  it  was  an  act  of  Federal 
usurpation,  that  it  virtually  suspended  the  writ 
of  habeas  corpus ,  that  it  unconstitutionally  denied 
a  trial  by  jury,  and  that  it  virtually  commanded 
a  judgment  of  perpetual  Slavery  to  be  summarily 
rendered,  upon  ex  parte  evidence,  which  the  party 
accused  was  not  allowed  to  refute  in  the  due  and 
ordinary  course  of  the  common  law.  You  adopt¬ 
ed  new  and  oppressive  penalties,  in  answer  to  all 
these  remonstrances  ;  and,  under  threats  and 
alarms  for  the  safety  of  the  Union,  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Bill  received  the  sanction  of  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States,  and  became  a  law.  That 
was  the  second  act.  When  murmurs  and  loud 
complaints  arose,  and  remonstrances  came  in 
from  every  side,  you  resorted  to  an  old  and  much- 
abused  expedient.  You  brought  all  the  great 
political  parties  in  the  United  States  into  a  coa¬ 
lition  and  league  to  maintain  this  law,  and  every 
word  and  letter  of  it,  unimpaired,  and  to  perpet¬ 
uate  it  forever.  All  your  other  laws,  although 
they  might  be  beneficent,  and  protective  of  human 
rights  and  of  human  liberty,  could  be  changed, 
but  this  one  unconstitutional  law,  so  derogatory 
from  the  rights  of  Human  Nature,  was  singled 


7 


* 


out  from  among  all  the  rest,  and  was  to  be,  like 
the  laws  of  the  Medes  and  Persians,  a  decree  for¬ 
ever. 

This  was  the  third  act.  And  where  are  you 
now?  It  is  only  five  years  since  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law  was  passed.  You  have  poured  out 
treasure  like  water  to  secure  its  execution.  The 
public  police,  the  revenue  service,  the  army  and 
the  navy,  have  been  at  your  command,  and  have 
all  been  vigorously  employed,  to  aid  in  enforcing 
it.  And  still  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  is  not  exe¬ 
cuted,  and  is  becoming  obsolete.  You  demand  a 
further  and  a  more  stringent  law.  The  Federal 
Government  must  be  armed  with  new  powers, 
subversive  of  public  liberty,  to  enforce  the  ob¬ 
noxious  statute.  The  bill  before  us  supplies  those 
new  powers.  This  is  the  fourth  act.  It  is  easy 
to  be  seen  that  it  cannot  be  the  final  one. 


Sir,  I  look  with  sorrow,  but  with  no  anxiety, 
upon  these  things.  They  will  have  their  end 
before  long  in  complete  discomfiture.  I  abide 
the  time,  and  wait  for  the  event.  I  perform  my 
duty,  the  only  duty  which  remains  for  me  now. 
in  protesting  against  the  enactment  of  this  law, 
and  in  expressing  to  you  my  conviction  that  you 
are  travelling  altogether  in  the  wrong  direction. 
If  you  wish  to  secure  respect  to  the  Federal 
authorities,  to  cultivate  harmony  between  the 
States,  to  secure  universal  peace,  and  to  create 
new  bonds  of  perpetual  union,  there  is  only  one 
way  before  you.  Instead  of  adding  new  penal¬ 
ties,  employing  new  agencies,  and  inspiring  new 
terrors,  you  must  go  back  to  the  point  where  your 
mistaken  policy  began,  and  conform  your  Federal 
laws  to  Magna  Charta,  to  the  Constitution,  and 
to  the  Rights  of  Man. 


UUKIiU  &  RLAN  CHARD,  PRINTERS,  WASHINGTON,  l>.  C. 


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